A News Blog

Crime and courts in West Alabama

Two men were airlifted to Birmingham Wednesday to be treated for injuries sustained in a head-on collision. Sean Gauley, 19, and Jimmy Huffman, 64, were both airlifted to UAB Hospital in Birmingham after the crash on Interstate 20/59. Gauley, from Owensboro, Ky., was listed in critical condition Wednesday afternoon. Huffman, of Maiden, N.C., was in fair condition. The crash occurred at the 70.5 mile marker, in the west bound lane of the interstate, near the Interstate 359 junction. Gauley was… Read More »

A judge has ordered Jody Byrd to serve 99 years in prison for killing his wife. Jody Byrd spent 14 years as a free man after the shooting death of his wife Desta in 1999. The case was stalled for more than a decade, until investigators pieced together enough evidence to charge him in 2011. A jury heard that evidence during a weeklong trial held in October and decided he was guilty of murder. Byrd, 46, was convicted of killing… Read More »

Authorities are at the scene of a serious crash near the intersection of Interstate 20/59 and Interstate 359 in Tuscaloosa. The two-vehicle crash in the westbound lane of I 20/59 happened at 8:42 a.m. Injuries were reported, according to Alabama State Troopers. More information will be released later today.

A Tuscaloosa man was lying when he reported that two gunmen were barricaded inside his apartment Monday afternoon, police said. Rodney Anthony Anderson, 47, told police that he had allowed two men inside his unit at Stone Creek Apartments after they asked to use the restroom, Tuscaloosa Police spokesman Sgt. Brent Blankley said. He said that he watched television for about 10 minutes and became concerned that the men had not returned. He told police that he grabbed his gun… Read More »

Authorities charged a Birmingham man with attempted heroin trafficking and possession of counterfeit money Monday night. Agents with the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force learned that William Earl Moore, 31, planned to sell heroin at a gas station off Exit 100 of Interstate 20/59, Tuscaloosa Police spokesman Sgt. Brent Blankley said. Task Force investigators approached him right after a transaction took place at 9 p.m., Blankley said. Moore led police on a short foot chase before he was captured. Drug… Read More »

A Tuscaloosa man was taken for a mental health evaluation after making a false report that triggered a massive law enforcement response Monday afternoon. The man called 911 Monday to report that he had let suspects in his home at Stone Creek Apartments earlier in the day. A fight ensued, he said, and one of the suspected fired a gun at him. At least 30 Tuscaloosa Police officers with backup from Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the complex on… Read More »

Police have surrounded an apartment building on Alabama Highway 216 after a resident reported shots fired. Officer are unsure whether any suspects are still in the unit at Stone Creek Apartments, Tuscaloosa Police spokesman Sgt. Brent Blankley said at 4 p.m. The apartment resident told officers that he let the suspects in his apartment earlier today. One of the suspects fired a gun at least once during an argument that ensued, Blankley said. The resident was not hit. “We’re not… Read More »

A 36-year-old man is accused of stabbing two 17-year-olds during a fight in Holt Sunday night. Investigators charged Jessie Burrell with two counts of second-degree assault after the fight at 29 Ridge Avenue, said Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit commander Sgt. Dale Phillips. Deputies were called to the residence at 11:30 p.m., where Phillips said witnesses reported an alcohol-fueled brawl that involved several people. Shots had been fired into the air, he said. One teen victim had been cut on… Read More »

Dateline NBC will air an hourlong episode about a Bibb County murder that went unsolved for 14 years. A jury convicted Jody Byrd of killing his wife Desta Dodson-Byrd at their home in Brierfield on Feb. 25, 1999. He wasn’t arrested until 2011. The episode, titled “Unstoppable”, focuses on the efforts of a group called “Justice for Desta” that pushed investigators and the media to keep the case alive. Justice For Desta members and Tuscaloosa residents Christine Shattuck and Ann… Read More »

Federal officials seized nearly $400,000 after stopping a Mexico-bound passenger bus in Sumter County on Sunday. Investigators found $386,900 stuffed in suitcases aboard the bus, according to a press release from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The three Mexican nationals claimed they were unaware of the money was in their luggage, the release stated. Agents with the 17th Alabama Judicial Drug Task Force stopped the bus on Interstate 20/59 in Cuba, near… Read More »